Perfect Imperfections
by Caprittarius'Rising
Summary: Set after the end of 02.22. I started watching TMP only in the last few months and now I'm totally obsessed! It occurred to me that Danny & Mindy still have some things they'd absolutely have to talk about. This is my take on what happens immediately after the ESB ending scene. The John Legend song is a definite inspiration. Enjoy! (And gimme some of that sweet R&R if you can ;)
1. What Would I Do Without Your Smart Mouth

He was so unspeakably happy and relieved to see her there, it slipped his mind to ask perhaps the most obvious questions. Certainly the many gawking passersby would have asked. They also would have expected others to do the same rather than choosing to _join_ the object of said gawking. Luckily, Danny was beyond tired of worrying about what other people thought in such matters. (Finally… His indifference was hard won; at one time, he worried about it too much and let it get in the way. Not anymore.)

Its not that it didn't occur to him, he just had better things to do. He thought of it, right before he instead stopped her lips with his own as she began to list the muse-inspired names she wanted for their _nine future daughters_. That, naturally, made it hard for him to ask, what with having his mouth against hers and what have you. For this he could hardly be faulted, though; the time since he last kissed her was simply too long and too much – he couldn't be held up by pesky if logical inquiries. (Not to mention, _nine_ daughters? Who does that anymore? It's not like they were trying to have their own reality show, for Pete's sake, although Mindy would love that. He might be Catholic but even he drew the line somewhere…)

Of course, while he was kissing her, his mind was too busy being wiped clean of anything but Mindy to worry about asking any questions at all. Not that there wasn't a fleeting thought here and there like just how ridiculously much he'd missed kissing her, how her lips were softer and she inexplicably tasted better than he remembered, how much he wanted to keep kissing her as often as possible for the rest of his life, especially when she did _that_ particular thing with her tongue and made _that_ particular sound. The one that made him want to get her naked, could easily make him hard in seconds if caught unawares… the one that was definitely more suited to the bedroom than the floor of the observation deck at the Empire State Building (much like kissing).

"You know, I'm serious about having nine daughters," she said against his mouth.

"Here we go, one boy– Anthony Francis."

"Anthony Francis?! What is he, gonna become the pope?"

"What!? That's offensive. Just because there's a Pope Francis right now doesn't mean anything. He'd go by 'Tony' anyway." Mindy huffed irritably, looking ready to launch into a lengthy diatribe no doubt concerning her views on old fashioned names and how he was clearly wrong; muse names and having nine daughters to bear those names was clearly the way to go. And really, he just wanted to get back to kissing her, so he grabbed her arm, pulled it around his neck and started nuzzling her ear to distract her. "What do you say we fight this out later, Min?"

She nodded faintly, already preoccupied by his lips tickling her jaw. "Fine, but I'm going to win in the end, you should just accept it."

"Uh-huh, sure you are…" He whispered before licking at the corner of her mouth.

Added to the turn on of arguing with her was the heady sensation of her curves under his hands for the first time in what felt like ages. Earlier, he couldn't quite keep from running his hand beyond the plane of her hip as he pulled her closer, down and over her ass for a brief squeeze and up her side as their lips fumbled together eagerly. If he had his druthers, he'd have maneuvered one of them on top of the other, allowing gravity to do the work of pressing them together more intimately.

As much as he wanted that, there was just enough blood left in his brain to remember that they were, unfortunately, still in public and getting arrested for indecency was probably not the best way to begin a newly mended relationship. Eventually this fact, the need to be alone with her, and the discomfort of the concrete beneath them filtered through his senses enough that he slowed the pace of their lips and drew away from her. Once he did, the questions he'd been holding back wanted to come all at once.

"Hey… Why _are_ you on the floor? You okay? And where are your shoes– and your coat?" He gazed down at her face, noting smugly the rather lust-dazed look in her eyes before she spoke.

"Well," she squeaked even higher than usual. She cleared her throat and swallowed, her hands making a motion in front of her like she was pushing down her libido. (All of this inevitably made him want to start kissing her again.) "The elevators were down when I got here, so I had to take the stairs. It was faster without my heels and they were pinching, so I ditched them. And then I got hot, so I took my coat off…" Her voice had gone from a tone more suited to giving a report to quiet embarrassment as he started chuckling. Of course that _would_ happen to her the one time she actually _was_ meeting the love of her life here. And make no mistake, he _was_ that guy, the love of her life. All that was left was to convince _her_ he was that guy.

"Wait, so... You walked up over 100 floors for me?" He teased softly in surprise, catching her hand that was still somewhat sandwiched between them. Given the vehemence of her refusal, he was inwardly thrilled she'd expended this amount of effort on his behalf. The emotion he'd tamped down earlier threatened to resurface and he covered with humor. "No wonder you're laying down." Her other hand swiped at him as he leaned away with a grin.

"Shut up!" She spat. "And yes I did that for you, you idiot! Not because you deserve it, that's for sure, but because… I don't know… I kind of – I – I love you, too." Danny exhaled in a silent laugh that was almost a cry, feeling a strange release of inner tension he didn't know he carried. Maybe she didn't need convincing after all.

"Yeah?" There it was again, that stubborn lump in his throat.

"Yeah." Her eyes were shining now too. "Of course! Why else would I be here, Danny?"

He swallowed hard. "You… you 'kind of' love me?"

"Yes! Isn't it obvious? I mean, you know I didn't do it for the cardio," she said with an affectionate eye roll, "because I fired my personal trainer not long ago – he was too distracted by my incredible body," she drilled a finger into his shoulder, "Although, come to think of it, how much hotter would I be if I did that all the time? I bet I burned like a week's worth of calories. I would _definitely_ be able to pull Kiera Knightly. You might even have some competition, Danny."

He shook his head, a soft smile tugging his mouth as she spoke, marveling at how this peculiar habit of hers, so unbearably annoying to him in the beginning, could thoroughly charm him now. Once again, he spoke past a tightness in his throat that gave his voice a rough quality that had little to do with seduction.

"I don't think you could be any more beautiful than you are right now."

Mindy blinked up at him in awe, rendered speechless at this statement. Even in their brief time as a pseudo-couple, he'd never been prone to overtly romantic declarations. For that matter, he hadn't been prone to them as a part of _any_ couple, pseudo or otherwise, except maybe during the early days of his marriage. But this? This fell so simply from his lips, he surprised even himself and hoped she wouldn't doubt for a moment how deeply he meant the words. Really, it was the understatement of the year. Maybe it was just because he loved her, but he really couldn't imagine her being any lovelier than with her hair spilled around her like a sultry cloud over the pavement, her cheeks flushed lightly from exertion, and her eyes shining with love and amusement, all softly lit by the night lights of the city. Even with an old cigarette butt and discarded pizza box near her head, she was radiant.

As he bent to kiss her again, his heart was so full he felt giddy. It was almost surreal to be in the midst of the long awaited culmination of all the carefully laid, screwed up, and rerouted plans that had brought them here. From the moment he sat next to her as she first read the "Was It You?" he'd posted, to hiding a smile behind his office door before encouraging everyone to trust her judgement, to the agony of hearing her use his own words against him through the bathroom door, only this time regarding _their_ relationship instead of hers with Cliff; from staring dejectedly at his laptop, too frozen with remorse to email her as 'Andy' to cancel their meeting, to taking care of her when she caught a cold waiting for him, to nearly coming clean, to wanting so badly to hold her hand or kiss her as they traipsed around the city together for weeks – as difficult as all of it had been, he would gladly repeat all of that and more to get to this place right here. A few short hours ago he'd been kicking himself in the depths of disappointment, terrified that he'd once again managed to ruined this. Now he was as close to ecstatic as he felt it was possible for him to be.

_Hell, maybe this _is_ ecstasy, _he thought as her hand slid back into his hair. _Yeah. That sounds about right._ Who better to experience that with than the woman he loved? After all, he definitely wanted more than the temporary delights given say, in the throes of a mind-blowing orgasm… Although, he definitely wanted to experience that with her again. As soon as possible.

At the moment, though, she was warm and responsive in his arms, her swollen mouth synced with his as they made out like teenagers. All of this, he would gladly take in lieu of sex if need be. (Another reason he was clearly a goner when it came to her.) So many times he'd tried to remember the feel and taste of her kiss but his memory hadn't done it justice. Her lipstick had long worn off and he tasted the fruity sweet remnants of her favorite lip balm as he caught her lower lip and sucked it firmly, eliciting a gasp that did nothing to mitigate his arousal. Before he thought better of it he hummed into her mouth. "Mmmm. I missed you."

"You missed me? Danny, we see each other nearly everyday and we've been spending the majority of our free time together. I even saw you a few hours ago!" She was genuinely surprised by this admission.

"I know but– it's not the same. That was before I knew you loved me too. I just– I dunno, I missed _this_. Kissing you. Holding you. Just being able to touch you the way I've wanted to." For emphasis, his hand slid down to her backside again, enjoying the way her fluttered when he did. He eyed the gap between the top buttons of her pink dotted blouse through which he could see the soft inner curve of her breast, and wished desperately they were alone so he could release it and kiss his way down her body.

"Really?"

"Yes, really." He sighed as another group of tourists gaped at them before passing through the doors to the elevators. "Speaking of which, we should get out of here before this goes any further."

"Okay. We should. We've probably scandalized enough people for one night– and I'm getting cold. Oh God, how are we going to find my shoes, Danny? I can't take anymore stairs! My legs are spaghetti. And those are one of my favorite pairs of red heels."

"One of them?" He laughed. "Do you even need them back?"

She gave him a purposefully blank look. "Are you being– are you trying to be funny? Because I see no humor in that."

"Right. Any idea what floor you were on?"

"I think it was around 75 or so… I remember a sign that had 'turn back' written on it which was pretty frightening," she recalled with a grimace. He helped her stand and kept one of her hands firmly in his own, lacing their fingers with a significant look, grateful he could do so now without freaking her out. Mindy reflexively pursed her lips at him, an action that drove him crazy and made him wish they hadn't gotten up.

As luck would have it, security was sensitive to their situation. Of course, the emphatic retelling of their 'epic love story' on the part of Mindy might have helped. Initially, Danny attempted to reign in her enthusiasm if only for the sake of brevity but after hearing her call him the future father of her beautiful mixed-race babies, he found himself just smiling like a fool as she spoke.

For months now, longer than he cared to admit really, he'd been consumed by a rather singular image: Mindy, in one of her trademark colorful outfits, with a belly rounded by pregnancy with his child. At first he'd been understandably terrified because the thought first popped into his mind long before he could even consciously acknowledge his attraction to her. At first, he wrote it off as a weird by-product of his profession; being surrounded by pregnant women and new babies gave a guy some odd mental images, sure; that, long hospital hours, cheap coffee, and sleeplessness created its own special kind of crazy thinking. In moments when his defenses were down, he was exhausted, or if she'd been particularly annoying that day, he would find himself idly wondering how their very different genetics would combine in a child. Then, of course, he would stop, mentally shake himself for being a moron, and chalk it up to all her ceaseless talk about how adorable her babies with Michael Fassbender would be. Not that he thought he was anything like that guy, but still.

Once, she'd told him to accept the fact that he was meant to be a father. Granted, she'd based this partially on his tendency to call a wallet a billfold, but he'd known it was more than that. Mindy innately supported him in what she considered to be an inevitability. She told him this despite the fact that he, in turn, had once made her feel she was running out of time to have children, back in the days before they were even remotely friendly. Yet what she took to be self-evident was something he was starting to worry would never happen, a thought that depressed the hell out of him.

Even though he knew logically men can have children well into their golden years, he never wanted to be a father who was too old to participate when he took his son to little league (or dance class) or his daughter to… well, dance class (or little league). He wanted to be a present father, one that was annoying and involved in his kids' lives if only because he loved them too much not to be. That would be hard to do if he was sixty-five. He felt this way even before he'd made peace with is own father while simultaneously discovering he had a ten-year-old half-sister. As magnanimous as he was currently feeling toward the guy, he couldn't help but feel his dad was once again providing him with an example he very much did not want to follow. For years it had been that he didn't want to be a man who walked out on his family. Now, he was even more sure he didn't want to be his father's age with a daughter that young. (Even though he could begrudgingly admit that his father at least seemed to have finally figured out parenting. Little Dani seemed like a good kid.)

At some point, however, he realized Mindy was the only woman it was happening with. He would get to the end of another relationship and realize he hadn't ever imagined his potential progeny with the woman involved in more than maybe a vague sense. This was true even of Christina; they'd planned on having children once their careers were more settled, but he never really visualized it. It was always more of a nebulous, hazy _someday_ in his mind and he was thankful now she'd never gotten pregnant accidentally.

Once he admitted he was in love with Mindy, he gave in to the idea, indulged it even. It became common for him to spend a few extra moments looking at a newborn, trying to pick which specific features, or which baby looked the most like it could be theirs. It tended to happen more often with an infant of mixed race or darker skinned parentage, but sometimes just a dark head of hair or a child with a nose or long fingers like hers would cause his chest to tighten and he would wonder.

This desire was something he'd never experienced before. He heard once that people who are ambivalent about having kids tend to change their mind when they meet the right person – someone they want kids _with_. Now he understood what it meant to want to experience the wonder of it all with someone _because_ of that someone, to see the fruition of nine months in a tiny human with miniature versions of their features in a totally unique combination and to see that person grow over time. And he could see that with Mindy, _wanted_ that with her more than he expected to want anything ever again.

After ten minutes or so, security had more details about their lives than they probably knew what to do with or needed to hear, courtesy of one Mindy Lahiri. (This included the fact that not only had Danny 'ambushed' her on an airplane, made her knees weak from said ambush, he'd then proceeded to basically give her a swirly in the lavatory, only to break her heart not long after… this earned some very confused looks from the guard.) The two guards manning the observation deck relayed information via radio to the control room. (Unsurprisingly, it took them much less time to do this than it took her to tell the story initially.) After confirming their identities, it was determined Danny and Mindy were not, in fact, terrorists or ne'er-do-wells of the nefarious kind. (Mindy was asked, however, if she was the same woman who had necessitated a SWAT response based on certain Homeland Security trigger words she used under interrogation during an incident a few years ago… Mindy nearly admitted it was her until Danny intervened, saying loudly that they'd heard about it at Schulman and Associates and had _all_ had a good laugh at the _unknown_ woman's expense.)

At long last, they received approval for a solution to their predicament. As the floors between the lobby and the observation deck were generally made up of business offices, the elevator system was designed to limit access during off hours. Similarly, the doors that lead to these floors from the stairwell locked magnetically at a designated time. Security personnel had keys that would override both of these functions, making it possible to take the elevator closest to the stairs down to the floors where Mindy thought her belongings might be.

In the meantime, Danny had noticed the dull ache on his right side becoming steadily more intense. As her coat was located on the 72nd, and shoes on the 68th floor, he was beginning to grit his teeth a little against the pain, hiding his concern at how rapidly it was progressing. Somehow, in the midst of his frantic race to get to her, he'd forgotten about being hit by a cab on his way here. It had been a little over an hour since then and it just seemed to keep getting worse.

Mindy beamed at him as she reentered the elevator with the security guard, having found and slipped back into her red shoes. He smiled back, breathing deeply as his heart tripped again at the sight of her. As he inhaled, a sharp stab of pain lanced through his side, causing a hitch in his breath. Her brow furrowed and she stepped forward, raising a hand to his face.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He smiled reassuringly, pressing a kiss to her palm.

"Me too." She moved beside him, bringing her arm up to slide around his waist. Her hand bumped near his belt and he hissed in pain.

"Danny, what is it?" She asked, pulling her arm back.

"I think the endorphins and adrenaline have worn off," he grunted.

"What? Adrenaline? What are you talking about?" Her eyes had gone wide in alarm.

"I kind of– Um." He paused, hesitant to ruin the good mood they were both still riding. "I got hit by a cab on my way here…" he muttered sheepishly.

"Wait– what?"

"I was running here from–"

"Running here? When? You ran here from the office?"

"No…"

"From where, then?"

"From– You know, the…" He gesticulated helplessly.

"No, I don't know. You mean you weren't waiting up there for me before you found me on the floor? Waiting _all night_, like you said you would – _even if I said no_? God, Danny–"

"– I waited! I did! I would have waited all night but I– I kept... seeing that look you had when you said you had plans to not be the stupidest person in the world and I just – I was so sure you weren't gonna come."

"How long?" She asked flatly, crossing her arms.

"What?"

"How long _did_ you wait?" Her voice was dangerously low. He sighed.

"An hour…"

"Wha–" She screeched indignantly.

"–But then I ran into everyone from the office and they said you were headed here so I ran. I ran all the way here. And then on the way, there was this guy who opened his car door in front of me, I turned around and – bam!– I got… hit by a cab." His hands slapped together to represent the collision. Hers came up to stop him.

"You ran into everyone? Ran into them where?" Her eyes narrowed as she waited for his answer. Wincing, he blew out a second exasperated breath, reminding himself that she deserved an explanation and probably would have found out anyway.

"I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast really so I was grabbing a slice when they all walked by... Can we get back to the part where I was hit by a cab?"

"A slice? A slice of p– Oh, Danny! Seriously? You left to get _pizza_?! I should have known– it was way too romantic for you! You said you'd wait all night!"

"I know, I know! I'm–I'm… I'm sorry, alright?" He scratched the back of his neck. "I wanted to do that, I _would_ have done that for you. But I– I couldn't stand it, Min – waiting there, not knowing. I didn't know what to do..."

"Yeah. It sucks doesn't it?" She said pointedly. Her arms were crossed again and he knew they were no longer talking about tonight. He froze, searching for something to say. After a moment, her shoulders and face relaxed until she looked more tired than angry. For the thousandth time, he kicked himself for hurting her. "You should have said something sooner. Seriously," she sighed. "Don't think for a second that this gets you off the hook, because it doesn't. And if you die of complications from getting hit by a cab while you were running through the city trying to prove that you love me? I _will_ kill you."

The security guard was regarding them with raised eyebrows during the entire exchange. "You sure you two aren't already married? Sure sounds like you are," he muttered quietly.

"Okay, sir… you seriously have no idea how long it's taken us to get to even this level of civility. Trust me, this is kindness. And probably ten years from now, we'll sound pretty much the same," she replied irritably, but he could tell she was fighting back a smile. She thanked the guard again as they passed the line of people still queueing in the lobby before pausing near the public restrooms. "Alright, Danny. Lets take a look…" She switched instantaneously to doctor mode, pulling his shirt from his waistband in a detached, clinical manner.

Sure enough, a purple bruise was visible, spreading in a half-moon above the waist of his jeans. She clucked softly in concern. "See how much I love you?" He tried, jumping as she palpated it gently. "Even getting hit by a car didn't stop me." She squinted at him in disbelief.

"Okay… Seems like internal bleeding might, though. It's a shame, too… I was going to take you home and do some things that would have blown your mind. But now? Guess all that sexual energy we were building will have to wait 'cause we are going to the hospital. No arguing." He nodded reluctantly, but perked up at the mention of _things_ happening between them as they walked out.

"You were gonna blow _my_ mind? How do you know I wasn't gonna blow yours?" He quipped, grabbing her hand.

"Please, we both know I'm far more amazing in bed than you are," she smirked, eyebrows drawing up and together.

"Oh, you think so?"

"I do."

"Maybe we should put that to the test. I mean, what sort of _things_ did you have in mind?" He murmured against her ear as he tugged her to fall back into him.

"Oh no, that is not happening, my friend."

"Wha-"

"Noooope."

"Not even a hint?" He whined. She smiled wickedly, walking ahead of him a few steps.

"Boy, what is it about you being sick or injured that makes you so horny? You were just as perverted when you had meningitis… 'Just graze it', I believe you said." She lowered her voice and over emphasized an accent to mimic him. "Is it the threat of death, Danny? Do you need sex to affirm your life for you?"

"No."

"Glad to hear it."

"No, I just need you."

She stopped, making him bump into her slightly. Before he could say anything more, she turned, her free hand slipping up his arm to the nape of his neck before she leaned into him, their mouths crashing hurriedly, her tongue darting immediately to caress his. He thought later it was like the best possible kind of ambush, to use her word; a full-frontal sensory invasion by a woman who knew exactly how to turn him on.

Their joined hands released simultaneously and she gripped his arm, encouraging him to press himself against her. When he gripped her hips and did just that, she rolled them against him and did the same with her chest, effectively rubbing all of her body along his frame. Just when he was starting to hope she was going to forget about the hospital, she pulled away and nipped lightly at his chin. At the same time, her hand came up surreptitiously between them, grazing the front of his jeans with the back of her hand. It was her turn to pull away smugly now, leaving Danny looking like he'd just been hit over the head with a stupid stick. He stared at her like she'd grown another head, wondering where the hell _that_ had come from.

"Yep, it definitely would have been me blowing your mind. That was just a preview. And just so you know, it is really not fair for you to say something like that to me when I can't follow up on it and jump you because you might be dying," she whispered hotly. "Come on, we're getting a cab."


	2. How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You

Upon arriving at the hospital, Mindy realized a part if her expected him to drop her hand, accustomed as she'd become to their previous state of secrecy or 'being cool' as Danny had so eloquently phrased it. They hadn't really talked about it in the cab. Actually, there'd been very little conversation. The time had been mostly taken up with making out and allowing their hands to rediscover one another while avoiding Danny's injury. An unspoken competition was waged that became all about seeing who would be more daring while they were still technically in public. He won when he pushed aside her vest and finally got to release that button, dipping his warm tongue down between her breasts while his thumbs brushed her nipples through the layers of material. (The cabbie, in true New York fashion, had to have seen what was going on but barely batted an eye. He'd probably seen worse.) Now, though, she couldn't help but wonder how he'd feel when faced with their relationship becoming public knowledge pretty much immediately after it restarted and in the hospital where they worked, no less.

Much to her delight, he merely tightened his grip as they walked through the doors and kissed her cheek before addressing the nurse at the desk. The woman must have recognized them at little because her eyebrows flew up toward her hairline as she handed Danny a clipboard. Mindy just grinned at her. _That's right. I am straight up dating Danny Castellano (again)! We're adorable, aren't we? The world must know! Tell your friends and neighbors!_ Then she realized the button on her shirt was still undone and she was practically flashing the entire ER her lacy pink bra. (Damn it.)

Aside from holding a pen and balancing the clipboard, Danny's hand was rarely out of hers, like he needed to maintain contact or one of them would disintegrate. Even though his palm was slightly sweaty (this was Danny, after all) it didn't bother Mindy one bit. She hand a thing for Danny's hands and had admired them before she ever admired the man all that much. For a long time, she'd thought they were easily the most graceful thing about him. With long, tapered fingers and wide palms, his hands moved in a weirdly relaxed but elegant way that seemed very at odds with the often uptight, rude loudmouth they happened to be attached to.

In the few instances in which he'd touched her early on, shaking her hand when they first met, shoving her over on the couch in the doctor's lounge, holding her arms when Beverly broke her nose, she'd been surprised by the strength in his hands. Not because she didn't think he was strong as a person or as a man, but his hands moved with such an odd fluidity it was easy to expect a less than firm touch. It was one of the first things she actually liked about him, this physical sign of a sensitive side she would glimpse occasionally that he just couldn't quite hide behind the Staten Island tough-guy persona. That was her internal version of things, at least.

Then, of course, she'd seen Danny dance. It may not have been ballet, but his hands were _definitely_ not the only thing she found graceful about him after that.

Thinking about his dance for her at Christmas still made her smile, made her heart rate kick up, made her replay that perfect moment in her mind and curse her coworkers all over again for interrupting. When she'd hugged him and his arms came up to reciprocate, she was almost sure she wasn't alone in the overwhelming connection she felt with him then. In fact, she was pretty sure she and Danny would have kissed if Peter hadn't burst into the room demanding 'boob wine', followed by Jeremy with Danny's wrecked gingerbread house, both of them completely breaking the beautiful spell that had fallen around them. She'd tried to bring it back after they left, but he'd turned down her invitation to 'get some air'. He knew, of course, that this was code for the 'perfect first kiss' part of her man-trap but she was hoping he'd clue in to her willingness to adapt to a change in partner if the partner were amenable. In the end, she'd figured she must have been mistaken about the spark she'd felt between them.

Immediately thereafter, Cliff had happened, inevitably putting everything Danny-related firmly on the back burner. She was left with no time to think about her feelings toward him. As was her style, she threw herself into the new relationship with gusto, brushing aside any thoughts of Danny, his dance, or his weirdly graceful hands and body. Every now and then, even while dating Cliff, her brain would supply a particularly erotic dream about one or more of those things and she would startle herself awake only to lay there in total shock, staring into the dark with phantom sensations of Danny's hands being the ones to slide across her skin and make her sigh and moan. She wasn't sure how she felt about that either and couldn't afford to give herself a chance to decide since she was firmly in a relationship with someone else.

Once, she'd been snoozing in the doctors' lounge and must have been making noises in her sleep. The next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake by Danny who, in her dream, had just been grinning at her in the most deliciously carnal way while in the middle of a dare that involved him making her come as many times as he could using only his hands. After jumping up at the sight of him like she was on fire, she proceeded to stare at him like he had a giant spider glued to his face. He'd just rolled his eyes and told her she must have been failing at counting sheep or something when he came in because she was muttering numbers in a strange voice but had only gotten up to six. (A number that seemed highly improbable in reality… at least when pertaining to her dream and not sheep. Obviously, it was totally realistic to have six sheep.) Regardless, her eyes had widened, hoping she hadn't said anything else that might give away the true nature of her dream. Despite being mortified with embarrassment, she couldn't take her eyes off him, darting from his hands to his lips, to his eyes (making him irritably repeat, "What?– What?") before mumbling an unintelligible excuse and escaping to the locker room.

She couldn't have known that she'd soon get to experience something pretty close to that dream (although, let's face it, six was still a pretty unrealistic number when it comes to orgasms, hands or no hands). When he'd grabbed her on the plane, kissing her like the male lead in one of her romantic comedies, she'd finally felt what his hands were capable of, and it was way better than anything she imagined. He seemed to instinctively know how to touch her in a way that inflamed her desire to dizzying heights. She remembered vaguely thinking, _Oh, yes… the butt grab is definitely his move_, and boy did it work for her. No man had ever been so immediately enthusiastic about her ass. Not long after, she'd gotten to know the slight roughness of his palms from old callouses, the subtle dexterity of strength she'd felt before in his fingers as they mapped her body carefully and drew each heated thread of pleasure out of her with exquisite patience. Thinking of it now was enough to make her mouth dry as all the moisture in her body seemed to concentrate and throb between her legs.

"Hey," he murmured next to her, snapping her back to her surroundings. "What are you thinking of? You just got all dreamy eyed." Blushing, she smiled demurely and wondered if she should whisper something naughty in his ear or if she'd tortured him enough. Before she could decide, she was overtaken by a huge yawn out of nowhere, reminding her that it was now getting close to midnight. "No, no, don't do that– you'll get me started and we'll pass it back and forth! We still have _things_ to get to tonight." He fought it mightily, but couldn't quite keep from succumbing to a yawn through which he groaned in frustration, then glared at her.

"I'm sorry!" She managed sleepily. "Its been a physically and emotionally exhausting day, Danny. Which is mostly, no– _all_ your fault. Aren't you tired at all? It's way past your bedtime, old man." She leaned her head on his shoulder, valiantly suppressing another yawn.

"Eh, maybe a little."

"You just yawned," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "They're contagious. And my brain needed oxygen."

"Oh, is that what that was?" Lifting her head, she leveled a skeptical look at him through her lashes. He sighed gustily in disappointment like a kid who just got denied dessert. This effect was enhanced by the mussed state of his normally perfect hair as a lock fell directly in the middle of his forehead. Some of that she knew she was responsible for, remembering how her fingers ran up through his sideburns while his tongue teased her earlier. As if reading her mind, Danny's eyes darted down to the button she'd refastened.

"What about finishing what we started in the cab? That's not enough to keep you awake? I apparently wasn't doing something right." She reached a hand to push his hair back, noting the way even this small gesture made him inhale deeply and his eyes darken ever so slightly.

"No, actually, you were doing just fine– pretty sure my eyes were rolling back in my head. I think that cab driver's life will never be so exciting again. If you'd done it any better, he would have been paying us for the ride– Come to think of it, maybe if you had done it a little better, we could've gotten here for free!" This last made her start to snicker uncontrollably at the image filled her mind. His eyebrows drew together in a frown.

"Come on... I am injured so, you know, take is easy."

"That didn't seem to be affecting... anything."

"Anything?"

"You know what I mean… you're amazingly responsive for your age."

"My age?! I'm not that much older than y–" It was her turn to interrupt his sentence with a kiss.

After finishing the requisite paperwork, Danny didn't have to wait long before being assigned a bed and given some pain meds to keep him comfortable until he could be examined. One perk of being a doctor employed by a hospital was being prioritized for emergency care. It was a way of protecting an investment since happy, healthy doctors made for happier, healthier patients in general. And in a teaching hospital like theirs, where med students often became those doctors, it was a long-term investment that started early in their careers. In fact, a friend of theirs from residency was working trauma that evening.

Within minutes, the intake nurse had come around to get Danny's vitals and information. The nurse asked if he filed an accident report with the police, to which Danny responded that he didn't want to take the time because he was in a hurry. When asked what could possibly be more important than being hit by a car, Danny glanced up at her in a way that had heat spreading across her skin. While holding her gaze, he said he had to go meet someone really important at the top of the Empire State Building– the woman he was going to marry. Mindy nearly looked behind herself indignantly to see who he meant until she remembered he was probably talking about her. Then she gaped at him.

"Who are you and what have you done with Danny Castellano?" She demanded, drilling an accusing finger into his side after the nurse left.

"What? I said I wanted to go all in. What'd you think that meant?"

"So… this for real– I'm not being punk'd… I mean, is– is Ashton Kutcher waiting around the corner to pop out at me and tell me this is all a setup?"

"Okay, I don't know who that is… but this," he lifted their hands and pressed his lips to their entwined fingers, "is real. I told you that." His eyes were so earnest it made her light headed. "Or– I tried to tell you that." She shook her head rapidly, dismissing the last statement.

"But… You're sure you only got hit by a cab? You're not feeling feverish? There wasn't some body-snatching incident I should be aware of?" Danny regarded her strangely for a moment, then shrugged again in an annoyingly self-satisfied way, amused by her reaction.

Soon afterward he was back to being himself, grumbling about being asked to don a hospital gown and griping about the pain medication, saying it was one that always made him loopier than several others he felt were equally therapeutic options and he probably could just take an over the counter anyway.

"Wow, Danny," Mindy joked lightly. "Would you like me to get the nurse back here so you can request a different one? Or tell him you've decided to be a manly man and go without narcotics?" Smiling at his grouchiness, she was glad to see him acting pretty much the way she'd expect. "Doctors really are awful patients."

"Hey– remember, I have more experience taking care of you at this point than you do taking care of me. You weren't a whole lot better," he teased, making a huge show of swallowing the pill, even opening his mouth and lifting his tongue to prove he'd taken it.

"Um, I was like the perfect patient. You barely had to do anything."

"You complained because the chicken noodle soup I made you had too many vegetables in it. You said it was too healthy to be comfort food."

"It's supposed to be chicken and noodles, Danny! Not chicken, noodles and carrots, or chicken, noodles and celery! If it has to have vegetables in it, they should be so small they can't be seen, okay– otherwise it's false advertising."

He changed into the gown as Mindy held the curtains closed after shoving him inside when he suggested she help undress him with a crooked grin. Actually, she was strongly tempted to do so, especially after what he said about her being the woman he was going to marry. _But we have plenty of time for sex– probably as long as we both shall live_, Mindy thought whimsically, paraphrasing one of her favorite lines from "You've Got Mail".

"No, you just said that out loud." Danny's voice came from right next to her on the other side of the curtain, making her jump. "You're narrating again." She could tell he was smiling and wanted to punch him.

"Oh… Damn it."

"No, I like it. Question though, if your gonna keep going– do I need to be present for the part where you map out our lives in an overly romantic and unrealistic way? I mean, it's not like I'll get much say anyway." Mindy snapped open the curtain in mock outrage. If possible, he looked even more smug and amused with his stupid kissable lips and stupid muscley arms crossed over his chest as he lay back on the bed. And how, exactly, was he making a hospital gown look sexy?

"Good thing I was done changing– Hey!" The clothing he'd removed and folded neatly at the end of the bed had become a weapon in Mindy's hands as she snatched up his jacket and hit him with it lightly. "Injured person here!"

"That was for making fun of my narrating, which you know you love–"

"–I _said_ I liked it–"

"–And that," she smacked him again, "is for once again insinuating that I talk too much–"

"–Sorry, but that you'll just have to get used to," he interjected, stealing the jacket out of her hands.

"–And that," she reached out and pinched him instead, making him squirm away, "is for continuing to pretend you're not a romantic even though you totally are. Did you or did you not run across the city for me?"

"Well–"

"You did. Of course it was only after you left that you ran across the city, despite saying you'd wait all night… which makes you an _idiot_ and a _jerk_–"

"Min–"

"–But a _hopeless romantic_ nonetheless, so don't pretend you don't want to be there when I talk about planning our lives or whatever. Because you _do_."

"I–"

"No, you don't get to argue with that."

He sighed. "…Okay."

"…Wait, you're… _not_ going to argue with that?"

"No."

"Oh… Good. Then I'm sorry I hit you… and pinched you. Have the drugs kicked in yet?"

"Nah, not yet. I need to eat something though or it'll irritate my stomach."

"Well, I'm glad you took them. That bruise looks nasty."

"I just didn't want to be impaired when we get to those _things_ we talked about." He clicked his tongue, letting his eyes travel up and down her body suggestively before winking in an exaggerated manner.

"Okay, that was lame. And you might as well just start saying sex, because no one's going to believe you're talking about anything else after that," she complained, fighting not to grin. He was doing that crooked smiling thing again and it had her pulse skittering out of control. "I am forced to repeat that sex with me would kill you in this condition and probably explode your heart monitor."

"I'm not on a heart monitor." Warmth suffused her stomach at the low, husky tone of his voice.

"Whatever." She narrowed her eyes, stepping closer even though she knew she shouldn't. "The point still stands."

"I was fine in the cab– Come here." He crooked a finger at her and lifted his chin. She thought about letting him sweat it, but knew it was useless. Faintly, she wondered if she'd always give in when Danny so much as crooked his finger and was afraid the answer was yes, not that he would ever hear that from her.

Feeling utterly adrift, she shook her head at them both, then closed the distance to cover his lips with hers. Their kiss this time was languid and unhurried but every bit as emotionally intense as it had been in the cab. It reminded her of the way they kissed before they ever had sex– slow and sensual like he was a low burning flame consuming her piece by piece. Each discovery felt like the first and held the promise of all they had yet to explore. Every sense was tuned exclusively to him, from the friction of lips to the roughness of his stubble to the glorious, wet slide of tongues to the scent of his skin and sound of their trembling breath so vital and close. It amazed her how lost she could still get in the sensations created by his mouth. With anyone else, she grew bored after roughly ten minutes and found a way to move things forward. Not with him.

Danny was different. Danny she could kiss for hours.

The world around her faded from consciousness as her focus narrowed to his mouth and the barely audible groan he released when she used her teeth in a gentle bite before drawing his bottom lip between her own indulgently. It was a sound she never tired of hearing; it was helpless, needy, and she loved knowing she could do that to him. Even with the rush of that power, she needed the anchor of one hand resting lightly on his chest, feeling the warmth of his body through the soft cotton, her fingertips tracing the side of his throat where his pulse raced by. All sense of time disappeared as his fingers dug hard into her hip, then slid up her waist to skim along the underside of her breasts. Head swimming, she was starting to rethink the necessity and wisdom of her insistence on coming here when the curtain drew back and a deep voice spoke.

"Whoa."

They broke apart guiltily to see Glenn Walters standing there holding Danny's chart.

Glenn had started his residency the same year as Mindy and was on several rotations with her. She had briefly crushed on the tall black man before determining he was more brother than boyfriend material to her. He had a great sense of humor and such an easy-going, relaxed nature that everyone had been surprised when he excelled under the demanding environment of the emergency room and trauma wards. With only a mild look of surprise, he nodded at his patient and the woman who'd so recently been wrapped around him.

"Danny, Mindy, good to see you as always." They both muttered sheepish hellos. Glenn propped the chart on the end of the bed, then wagged a finger between the two of them. "It's really none of my business, but… that's new, right?" Mindy cleared her throat as Danny's mouth fell open, both unsure what to say. Then both began speaking at once.

"It's– well, it sort of – it's new but it's – I mean," she started.

"–You could say its new, although we kind of– um," he stuttered. Glenn held up a hand, cutting them off.

"Alright, alright, take a breath," he advised, laughing. "It's not a big deal, I was just curious. Good for you, though. I mean, we all thought maybe you two had a thing back in the day, the way you'd argue with each other. We figured there had to be something there– I mean, senior resident arguing with a first year to the point of ignoring everyone else, sparks flying… it was like watching a tennis match– It was like when those doctors on 'House' argued with each other at work to convince everyone they were no longer in a relationship or something, you know?" Mindy coughed to hide her surprise, wondering why everyone but the two of them were able to see it so long ago. _First Josh, then Amy, now Glenn? Who else? I mean, really! Why did it take us so freaking long to see this?!_

Danny seemed just as stunned by this information but was smiling his weird pod-person smile and staring off distractedly.

"Anyway…" Glenn blew right past the awkward silence and brought them back to the present as he looked at the chart again. "Hit by cab. Slightly better than falling down a manhole, I guess. At least there was no embarrassing ambulance ride or news story this time. The lack of accident report and the note, 'patient said he had to go meet his future wife at the Empire State Building' make a hell of a lot more sense now, too." He winked at Mindy. "You want to give us a second?" She acquiesced quietly, feeling unaccountably shy as she squeezed Danny's shoulder before stepping away from them, reeling from Glenn's statement.

She meandered distractedly to the waiting area and used the coffee machine to get some much needed caffeine, continuing to stand near the drinks station as she warily assessed the empty chair situation. It wasn't promising; at the moment, she did not finding the idea of sitting too near the sick and/or injured terribly appealing. This time of night, the proverbial shit usually hit the fan down here as people who had gotten off work hours ago had plenty of time now to get drunk, begin arguments, or plot crimes to commit under cover of darkness. Also, it was Friday night, which usually added to the crazy. Also, she was pretty sure if she sat down she would not want to get back up. The longer she was away from Danny, the more she became aware of just how weary she felt. _Maybe I_ will _disintegrate without him_, she mused. Her eyelids felt heavy and her legs were starting to feel sore from the 104 story climb she'd taken. In the morning she would probably feel like hell. Then she and Danny could be in pain together and take turns being the patient. _Or take turns playing doctor._

Suddenly, it occurred to her that she hadn't checked her phone in well over an hour and a half. It had to be some kind of record; normally, the nagging feeling of being cut off from the outside world without her ever-present internet connection drove her to distraction. Clearly, Danny was a bad influence in this area, what with his old fashioned, 'your cell phone doesn't need to be glued to your hand' attitude. (That and his distractingly sexy self.) Usually, only lengthy medical procedures could keep her out of the loop this long. She pulled it out of her purse to find a slew of texts from her coworkers wanting to know what happened. As she scrolled through them, she responded to them in her mind.

**Morgan**

- OMG. I can't stand it! Did he find you?!_ (Oh Morgan, you're a weirdo.)_

- Please, Dr. L, tell me he found you… _(Yup, he found me alright.)_

- Hello?! _(Chuh… rude.)_

- Really? After everything I've done for you, you ignore me! You two better be having sex right now. _(Boy, don't I wish.)_

- Hey, Dr. L, I'm not really mad, I just would really like to know if my best friend and former roommate managed to hook up with the man of her dreams tonight, that's all. No big deal. _(Ugh. Guilt trip much?)_

**BrOB-GYN (Peter)**

- Hey, Danny stopped to get pizza like the total chode that he is… don't let him get a pass on that! But he's on his way now, FYI _(I really wish I'd seen that sooner!... Do I wanna know what a chode is? Guessing no.)_

- Well trashy skank, hope you and Danny are bumpin them uglies right now! Bow chicka wow-wow. Git it gurl. Git it aaalll night long… And you're welcome, BTW._ (How does he manage sound like a frat boy even in texts? And how did he change his name in my phone?!)_

**Jeremy**

- I hope you two have finally mended things. It's taken bloody long enough. _(Pretty sure you weren't even aware of our relationship until today, so…)_

- Incidentally, if you do decide to embark on a relationship I will need both of you to sign another waiver saying you release the practice of liability in the event that things should not work out and so forth. _(Gee… Thanks for the vote of confidence!)_

- Just a friendly reminder. Hope it doesn't come to that of course. Best of luck. Ta. _(That's a little better… Does that man really have a waiver for everything or is he making it up as he goes along?)_

Rolling her eyes, she seriously considered letting them all wait, but thought better of it. They _had_ been nice enough to take time out of their respective days to convince her Danny was in love with her and encourage her to meet him. (And then to encourage him to go find her when he was being ridiculous and hungry… stupid, stupid Danny.) She supposed the least she could do is update them all on the latest developments. Also, they would find out all the details eventually even if she didn't want them to know.

Opening a new group message, she typed out a short paragraph saying they had found each other (_at last_!) and were together but Danny had gotten hit by a cab after he saw them so they were back at the hospital getting him checked out. She was about to hit 'send' when it occurred to her that since the majority of the office worked at the hospital concurrently, telling them about Danny's injury might cause all of them to descend en masse, thereby making their night that much longer and (_more importantly_) delaying any possibility of more hot, sexy making out, touching, or even steamy looks for that matter. With this in mind, she removed the part about the hospital and said they were watching a movie at his place and hit send, determined to do her best to ignore any responses it garnered.

She finished her coffee and got a refill, mixing one for Danny as she idly scrolled through her Twitter feed. Another huge yawn had overtaken her when new message popped up on her screen.

**Danny**

- Where's you run off to? Gotta hot date I don know about? Get your curvy ask back her. I'm horny for your kisses. ;)

"Wow. Danny Castellano sent me a winky face. I can officially die happy." She snorted in amusement, wondering at the spelling errors before responding.

**Mindy**

- Who is this? This is Mindy. :P

Grabbing the coffee cups, she traversed the hundred or so feet back to his bed and pulled back the curtain. Danny looked up at her, his eyes somewhat unfocused as he waved his phone.

"Cute. You reused my line."

"It's only fair– you reused mine. And sent me a winky face, you perv." He gave her a big dopey smile. "Jeez, you weren't kidding. That stuff _does_ make you loopy."

"Yeah, I told you. Empty stomach's not helping."

"Uh-huh. What did Glenn have to say?"

"Probably just bruising, but he wants an X-Ray to be sure."

"Oh good. Looks like I won't have to kill you after all," she observed sagely.

"Well if you kill me now, no sex for you."

"What are you talking about? I could get another guy like that." She snapped her fingers.

"Ah, but then I'd just have to haunt you like a sex crazed poltergeist and make sure you never got laid again." Blinking slowly, he pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes. "Wow, I'm feeling it now." His voice was starting to sound a bit muzzy and he seemed on the verge of falling asleep. It was actually crazy adorable and reminded her way to much of how he sounded during sex. "That text was off, wasn't it?"

"Which part? The part about my curvy _ask_? Remember how I told you about autocorrect?" He chuckled throatily, a sound so sexy she felt her toes trying to curl in her shoes. To offset this, she stepped closer and kissed him chastely.

"Mmm… I remember. You taste like coffee. Where's mine?" He spoke with slightly exaggerated slowness and a very slight slur like words had suddenly become hard to pronounce. She wondered if she could get away with taking video of this for blackmail purposes.

"Here. Couldn't find any tonic water." His own phone dropped forgotten into his lap as he took the cup from her, smiling in that crooked way of his.

"This'll work. Hey, it's just the way I like it," he said after a sip, like it was the most impressive thing ever. "Black with just a little sugar because cr–"

"–Cream is for sissies," she finished for him. "I know. See? I do listen to some of the stuff you say." Sipping it slowly, he gazed at her fuzzily over the rim before setting it aside.

"You still look nice, Min. Even after climbing all those stairs." His fingers reached out to toy with the front edge of her coat. Her eyebrows quirked up.

"That's me. 104 floors and still flawless. I woke up like this," she drawled casually a la Beyoncé even as his words made her heart stutter in her chest.

"You're really pretty in pink."

"Hey, nice '80's movie reference!"

"Huh?"

"…Never mind." She bit back a smirk, pursing her lips.

"Aw, don't do that," he frowned drowsily.

"What? First I can't yawn, now I can't smile?"

"No, it's not that– it's– the thing, the thing you do with your lips. Man, it drives me crazy when you do that." His head rolled back and forth on the pillow in frustration.

"What thing I do with my lips?" Obviously, he was losing it.

"Oh God, you don't even know?" Staring at him expectantly, Mindy's chin jutted forward, hands spread, completely at a loss. "You do this – its like a smile, but you purse your lips just a little and it makes wanna fff… Oooh, I just– I want you so much right now."

"Danny!" Thank goodness he was too medicated to speak at normal volume or the whole hospital would be treated to the lascivious, depraved rantings of her boyfriend. _Wait– Boyfriend?_ she thought vaguely. _Somehow that doesn't seem adequate._

"What?"

"I know what word you were about to use, Danny!"

"I can't help that it's true! Hey… you were the last one, you know."

"Last one? Last one what?" Surely, he didn't mean… well, he could mean anything. Last woman, last hope, last … lover. _Those are pretty much all the same, dummy,_ she chastised silently.

"Remember when you asked me if I'd really been with every race of woman? Well, I have now," he declared smugly, a slow, devilish grin spreading across his face. "You were the last one."

"What?!" She pushed his arm away in mock outrage before trying to pinch every inch of him she could reach. Grinning, he thwarted her efforts by grabbing her wrists and holding her hands away from his body, the reminder of his strength turning her on even as she struggled to inflict pain upon his person."And here I thought you were being romantic again! Is that the only reason we got together? So you could check me off some kind of sexual bucket list?!" If there had been something besides his clothing nearby, something like a throw pillow (or a brick) she would have begun beating him with it and hard, injury be damned. "Are you gonna write a book now? _How I Slept With Every Race of Woman and Some of Them Twice_? And just because we're a sixth of the world's population does not mean all Indians are one race, Danny. That's very offensive!"

"Says the woman who's constantly referring to herself as a 'woman of color'."

"Well, it's different coming from me because I _am_ a–"

"–A woman of color. Right." His voice and his eyes had softened as he gazed at her with the smallest of smiles curving his lips. The look was one he'd given her a lot lately, one she didn't recognize for what it was until now. It was the same look he gave her when he was helping her write that letter to Cliff, when they were first together, when she asked him to stay with her when she was sick, and when they'd spent time rediscovering the city they both loved together. It was a look that kindled a radiating warmth in her chest and fluttering butterflies in her stomach.

One instance in particular came to mind. They'd been watching the sun set over the harbor after spending the whole day together about two weeks ago. She'd remarked on how she liked watching the light glint off the hundreds of thousands of windows across the city skyline; it made her think about all the different kinds of people (mainly the famous kind) behind those windows who could all be watching the same sunset at the same time as her. When she finished speaking, she'd turned to find Danny looking at her with an expression very like the one he wore now. Had it been anyone else, she'd have thought he wanted to kiss her, but this was Danny. Danny, who broke her heart. Danny, who made it clear he didn't want her… or so she thought. At the time, she had dismissed it as wishful thinking brought on by the romantic setting and the wonderful day in each others' company. Now she knew she must have been right, and the thought made her heart pound erratically.

He'd looked at her the same way just before she'd spotted the man she thought was Andy on the subway this morning. _Wow, that was this morning? It feels like so long ago._

In fact, now that she thought about it, there were actually numerous times in the past when Danny had looked at her in a similar way. Only then he was clearly just as confused about what was happening as she was. Various moments from the past popped into her mind: the time they'd accidentally touched hands on the plane from Santa Fe before he gripped hers definitively on purpose, the time he'd cleaned her glasses for her and slid them gently back on, his fingers in her newly shortened hair the night she decided to go to Haiti, the time he'd kissed her cheek post Wiener Night before leaving with another woman, the hug at the Christmas party after he performed a dance he'd memorized just for her. Each time, there had been an underlying uncertainty there, something he was clearly flummoxed by and not ready to explore. Each time, she managed to convince herself it was just affection that made him look at her like that, like she was something different, like she was something special. It seemed unbelievably obvious now that it hadn't been only friendly affection.

Neither of them had known it, but they had been falling for each other a long time.

Over time, the uncertainty in those looks had shifted to a far more vulnerable, risky place. Confusion became fear, creeping in stealthily like a particularly insidious cancer. Whether it was fear of his feelings, fear of rejection, fear of hurting or losing her, she could never be sure although all of these had undoubtedly played a role in his stupid decision to end things.

At some point in the not too distant past, however, a small portion of that fear seemed to have disappeared almost overnight. Lately, she realized in hindsight, it had seemed like he was no long unsure of one thing– his own feelings. Her feelings were still unknown to him until tonight. She hadn't missed the complete and utter relief on his face when she said she loved him too. As he looked at her now, his eyes held such obvious love she recognized it instantly. There was also an unabashed warmth there that intoxicated her. It was like he was thrilled to finally be able to let her see what how he felt and look at her with all of that emotion plainly showing on his face.

The racing torrent of these thoughts and his steady gaze made her hot all over, and Mindy inhaled slowly in an effort to keep herself from dragging him behind the nearest lockable door. Not for the first time, she was thankful for the deep shade of her skin that had hidden a multitude of revelatory blushes throughout her life.

"Oh, this is so unfair," she muttered after a long silence teeming with sexual tension. "You probably couldn't even get it up right now if you wanted to." Danny snorted indelicately, watching her take off her coat and fan her face.

"How much you wanna bet? Wait… do you want me to?"

"Ha-ha. There's nothing we could do about it now and you know it. Someone will be here any minute to take you to Radiology."

"Hmm. Good point. That would be awkward." He leaned toward her a little.

"It would be. So awkward. Especially since you're only wearing a hospital gown," she managed, getting drawn in by his dark eyes.

"Mmm." He leaned still further, eyes roaming her face hungrily.

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"You're smoldering at me. You know I can't resist your smolder."

"Then why are you trying?" His face was only inches from hers now and she knew he hadn't been the only one leaning in. (Damn it.)

"I have an idea," she whispered, licking her lips, thrilling at the spark of desire in his eyes as they flickered to her mouth.

"You do?"

"Uh-huh." Her voice was barely audible, breathy even, as she brushed her open lips against his with a feather light touch while they shared breaths. He inhaled shakily, gasping when her tongue flicked across his lower lip. She kept it up until neither of them could stand it. "While you're in Radiology," she whispered into his mouth, drawing the sentence out. "I'm going to go upstairs and change into my scrubs," she stated, pulling back. He stared at her stupidly, saying nothing for a full five seconds.

"Wait– What?!… You gotta be kidding me!" His head dropped back and he stared at the ceiling before covering his face with his hands.

"I can't help it that you're this sexually addicted to me, Danny." She stood back and smoothed her clothes down casually.

"Uuuuggghh," Danny groaned behind his hands. "Are trying to give me a heart attack? I hate you so much right now," he growled without looking at her.

"No, you don't– you love me, you wanna have beautiful mixed race babies with me," she trilled in a singsong voice, much the way Peter had once done to her, "or rather one beautiful mixed race boy named Anthony Francis… Yuck."

She was so caught up in her victory she didn't see it coming. In a flash, Danny hands shot out, grabbing fistfuls of her vest and pulling her to him roughly. Luckily, she was standing to his left, so no contact could be made with his injured side. Not that she was thinking about that much. She was mostly thinking _Whoa!_ and then, _Oh God…_ before her brain just turned to mush.

Her upper body fell over his, one had steadying herself next to his body on the bed, the other clutching near his shoulder. There was nothing slow about it this time. Instead, he devoured her, moving his tongue past her lips in an purely erotic way that liquified her insides instantly. She heard herself whimper a little before angling her head to give him better access while her legs weakened beneath her. As she leaned precariously over him, he tugged her coat free from where it was draped over her arm, arranging it hastily over his lap before placing a hand over hers where it gripped his shoulder. Their mouths stayed linked as he haltingly slid their hands down his chest, over his abs, and under the edge of her coat until she felt the hard ridge of his erection through his briefs. He moaned softly against her lips as she stroked him lightly through the layers of material once, twice, and a third time before she made herself stop, pulling back slightly to look down at him.

"Guess I was wrong," she rasped. He nodded unsteadily, eyes drifting closed when she stroked over him again. Pointedly, he grabbed her hand and slid it back into view.

"Turn about is fair play. Between what you did to me on the street and in the cab, Min, I've been halfway there for a while now. Why do you think I left my underwear on?" His jaw clenched as he breathed deeply, trying to calm down.

"You have? I didn't notice." She would have ribbed him mercilessly had she known and, of course, been that much more tempted to drag him off somewhere private.

"Yeah. Made things with Glenn slightly weird, but I think he understood."

"Danny, do I… Do I really turn you on that much?" The question came out casually, but there was an unintentional quiver in her voice that gave away its depth. There were times when she found it amazing Danny was attracted to her at all. If he had a type, she never would never have thought she was anywhere near it; the women he dated were mostly skinny and perfect at least in her eyes. Despite her frequent assertions of her own hotness, somewhere inside there was still a girl that didn't quite believe she was desirable, worried that she didn't measure up to the standard of beauty, and feared that she wasn't going to be enough, especially for someone like him. There was a part of her that worried Danny would end up wishing she were thinner or had bigger breasts or blue eyes or any number of other things she may or may not be able to change.

He grimaced, about to say something off-handed and light, when her tone registered. In the space of a heartbeat, his expression shifted from playful to totally sincere. He stared at her a moment, another strange, thoughtful look in his eyes before he moved his focus to her hand he still held lightly against his body.

"Mindy," he began, pausing as he gathered the words. He sighed quietly, playing with her fingers, hesitant for reasons she couldn't determine but sent her mind racing frantically with fear. "You… You make me feel… like I'm sixteen years old again." Of all the things she imagined him saying, this wasn't one of them.

"Um. Is that… good or bad?" The way he said it, she couldn't tell and she abruptly needed to know the answer like she needed to breathe.

"Oh, it's good," he said, but his expression indicated otherwise.

"Then can you tell that to your face? Why do you look like I just asked you to go to a musical with me again?" Lifting one shoulder, he seemed reluctant to elaborate as she stared at him. He opened his mouth several times to speak but nothing came out. Feeling slightly sick, she was about to tell him to forget it when he spoke softly.

"Because it's– it's kind of embarrassing… because I– basically… I want you all the time. And not just sex, although that's… really, really great." At this she couldn't help but smile. "I get excited just holding your hand, touching your hair, making you laugh. All you have to do is look at me a certain way, or hell, just walk into the room or smile and my heart just... just _pounds_ like I've never touched a girl before. You make me _want_ to be romantic, you make me wanna do dumb things for you like the guys in those movies you love… I mean, it's like I've never been in love before. Not like this. So do you really turn me on that much? Fuck yes, Min. You do. You really do. All the time."

Unexpectedly, Mindy's eyes filled. Even as she was smiling, a tear dripped down on his chest, marking the space over his heart with a tiny darkened circle. She drew a ragged breath as his hand came up to brush away the track it left on her cheek. "Hey… don't get upset." He pressed soft kisses to her forehead, her nose, and her lips. "I said it's a good thing! Look, I even told my face." Lifting her chin, he gave her another huge, dopey grin that made her laugh through the tears.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just needed to hear it... I didn't mean to start– I'm just tired," she sniffled pathetically.

"Don't apologize. Just don't doubt that I'm attracted to you, okay? I love you."

She nodded, pressing her lips together. "I'm probably going to need to hear that a lot for a while."

"Bring it on." His eyes narrowed. "But if you tell anyone what I said about feeling like a teenager, I'll deny every word."

"Aaaaand you just ruined it. I was about to ask when you figured out how to always say the right thing."

He gave a cocky shrug. "I'm gifted that way."

"No, the point is that just now you didn't say the ri– No, you know what? Never mind. You were having a one time streak so I'll let you have it. Can I move my coat now, Danny?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"Okay. I really am going to go change now though. My feet are killing me. I'll meet you back down here when I'm done."

"Alright. I'll text you. And can you get me something to eat? I'm starving."

"You're always starving. But I'll get you something." She straightened, glancing toward his groin to make sure he was suitably calmed. She was about to go, but couldn't resist one last peck on the lips that turned into another lengthy kiss. Danny didn't seem to mind, his hands sliding back into her hair and down the sides of her neck. When she finally pulled away again, he sighed heavily.

"Maybe I'll just take your coat with me to radiology. That wouldn't be weird, right?"

"You're secret's safe with me. Or you can use your own," she teased, grabbing his jacket from the end of the bed again.

"Yeah, yeah… Get outta here," he said, over-emphasizing his accent. He shoved her away lightly after taking the proffered lap-covering jacket.

"Alright, alright, I'm going," she threw over her shoulder. As she walked away she pulled her phone out again, opening the message thread to Danny. Before she could type out anything, the indicator bubble popped up on his end showing he was typing a message to her, making her heart jump in surprise.

**Danny**

- Your hips. Your ass. Your calves when you wear heels.

- 3 very sexy things that turned me on just watching you walk away. Now hurry up so I can get you home and take you to bed.

Needless to say, a huge grin spread across her face as she exaggerated the sway of her walk, knowing he could likely still see her. She turned the corner and hit the elevator button before thinking up a sassy response to send.

Two could play this game.


End file.
